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Amigos de los Animales General Meeting

March 15th/2006

Attendance: JoAnn Scott, , Sally Ross, Nadine Laxen, Daniel Valderrama, Cindi Van Buskirk, Valerie Moreau, Mina Hardy, Rafael Aguilar, Approximately 40 people from the general public in attendance. Held at Canuck's Restaurant

  1. Due to the format of the meeting President Jo Ann explained that this forum would be run as an Information meeting rather than a regular general meeting. Introduction of the board and special guests were introduced. Special guests included Martha Armenta, Henry Laxen.
  2. The floor was opened to the general public. The speaker was asked to introduce themselves and then continue to speak.
  3. A question was asked as to what to we do on a monthly basis to bring in money. To date we were having weekly bingos, donation boxes at businesses, 50/50 draw at Canuck's.
  4. Teresa Saul who was involved in the Humane Society in Cancun then spoke on ideas such as : T-Shirt Sales, Pay Pal Account for monthly donations, corporate donations, Sunset Cruise, Sell beads etc at carnival.
  5. Rick Westerdahl: Asked us to define where we were headed. We explained hiring a vet would cut back costs, we need to host spay and neutering clinics, and host more education programs.
  6. Alice: Question: Can we stay open with keeping Daniel as shelter manager and getting more Mexican involved? Answer: No, we need to cut back 10,000 pesos a month. She then suggested that we try and get 300 people to donate $10 a month thru a paypal account to contribute to our monthly income. She also suggested we change the meeting place to a more central location so it would be easier for locals to get to. There is also a group in Centro that would like to organize some fund raising events.
  7. David Bodwell: Stated that Mazatlan needs an Animal Shelter. We need to get donations of food and other items rather than just money. Why is the cost of our spaying and neutering so high? Local business to ask for change from tourists, and then donate to Amigos de los Animales and we can sell for pesos. David then handed 1000 pesos worth of Canadian coin, and also 120 pesos from the sale of his book sales for the evening.
  8. Rick Westerdahl: Why are our expenses as high as running a orphanage? Have we looked at other places to get our spaying and neutering done? Rafael spoke and explained that the vets work out of 4 offices and the average cost ends up being 200 pesos per animal, which includes other surgeries, euthainization and other vet services. Someone asked what will happen to the animals while the shelter is closed starting April 1st? We explained that they would remain on the streets or could be taken to a local vet if needed.
  9. Samantha Velasco: Would like an opportunity to help with fund raising
  10. Cranda Westerdahl: There should be locals on the board not all gringos. Need to change the meetings from the El Cid location.
  11. Angeles: Has known about the association for 3 years and has adopted 4 dogs from the shelter. Daniel was instrumental in those adoptions and she feel s it is very important to keep Daniel as the shelter manager.
  12. Eduardo Lopez: We need to get more donations and get Mexicans on the board.
  13. Bruno Vega: Donated classes to train animals for free to the society. Also holds classes on the beach in front of the Plaza Bonita on Saturdays.
  14. Phil Neville: Announced that every 3rd Monday the 50/50 goes to Amigos. People are not wanting to buy tickets as they perceive us as not needing the money. This perception is affecting our ability to earn more income. We need to change the perception of us being an¡ elitest¡ group.
  15. Alice: Suggested we keep Daniel and the shelter open for one more month, with the assistance of more volunteers from Centro. 0 David: Education programs should not cost the shelter anything.We need to recruit more volunteers to help with this. A phamplet can be made very economically.
  16. President Jo Ann thanked everyone for their time and input.
  17. Thank-you to all those who made a monetary donation this evening. A total of 2840 pesos and $50.00 US was donated.
  18. Meeting was adjourned at 05 pm.